It was one of those days

I had lots of last minute things in prep for our trip and somehow also had a naked rack of ribs in the fridge. And ribs are new to me. But I'd read up on Cook's Illustrated time-condensed technique for a tender, crusty rack and was prepared to make it work around my chores. The frugal cook must persevere and use the ribs, the asparagus, the baby potatoes! Unthinkable to leave them and hope the housesitter actually cooks.

I made the rub and rubbed it. I phoned the credit card company, donated the eye glasses, emailed the friend, dropped off the DVD's, picked up the prescription, bought the sunscreen, mailed the letter. One store didn't have what I want, but that's okay.

Back home, I soaked the wood chips and started the grill. Except the temperature wasn't getting to where it should be...blast. CI wants me to slowly and smokily grill the ribs first but to ensure we eat before midnight I can't wait for a propane refill. So I'll be doing this backwards - into the oven go the ribs, on a rack over a pan of water, basted periodically with apple juice and fruit vinegar mixture, the way CI asks for them to be finished. One way or another, they'll be okay.

In between packing-laundry-cleaning, I called the phone company, since I was not able to dial long distance that morning. For 45 minutes, I was bounced between departments, agents and hold. Most of the time, not only can the person I'm speaking with not answer why I can't dial long distance - they can't find my account! I doggedly supply my name, address, phone number, account number and date of birth to each new person I speak to, only to end up frustrating both of us by the fruitless search for my record; being transferred and repeating the process. In the end, it really becomes the end. They can't help me because they can't find me and never offer to follow up and get back to me. I refuse to do business with a company whose database has no record of me when presented with the account number and the phone number they gave me. A TECHNOLOGY COMPANY!! Not okay.

Two hours later, Hubby arrived with the refilled tank and got an earful of my story, with full furious frustration, followed by presentation of the home phone file - I am deleting it from my 'to do' list and demand Hubby find a replacement company. He, as usual, is very amused by my rant, laughing aloud at the company's incompetence and my passion over it, and agrees to arrange a change of our telecom supplier.

The wood chips get fired up again, and this time complete the job, although with less smoke than I would have hoped. We eat at 9pm and the ribs, despite their messed up process, are quite fabulous. Rich, tender and flavourful, we gorge ourselves and forget the lesser issues of technology and empty propane tanks.

PS. No innocent telecom phone flunkies we harmed in the course of the neverending pointless conversation.

And the winner is....a hybrid?

Recently, Slate hosted a cook-off between the precise and particular food geeks of Cooks Illustrated and the democratic user-driven free love of food52. Both websites supplied their premiere versions of braised pork shoulder and sugar cookies for Slate readers to make and compare. http://www.slate.com/id/2252446/entry/2252447/

The end result seemed to be that CI had the technique nailed and food52 had the best marinade flavour. I've braised pork before and it's a lovely meal with savoury drippings just crying out for mashed potatoes to sop up that sauce. Mmm.

So I cut to the chase and stole the (reportedly) best of each for my own test. I used the food52 spice mix and loved the aroma of the orange rind, it was reminiscent of mexican el pastor. I marinated the meat 24 hours and flipped it periodically as it soaked up the flavour. Then over to the CI technicians and their cooking method with the roast above the braising liquid. It came to the recommendeded 190 degree temperature more quickly that I expected. I let it rest and carved it up but the expected pulled pork texture did not materialize. Although tender, it just wasn't that unctuous bite that I was expecting. I think it needed more time in the oven to fully melt all the connective tissue and become perfectly moist succulence. Sadly and strangely, the flavour wasn't all that, either. The meat was pleasant tasting but the fennel/orange/garlic flavour was muted enough to be almost unrecognizable.

The pork shoulder made a nice meal - but as Hubby and I discussed recently, 'nice' really barely feels like a compliment. Next time, I'm doing things MY way.

Desperately seeking sunshine

In a rain-splattered, lower-than-average-temperature June, I have been craving warmth. Just hearing the words "sun dried tomatoes" brings up images of deep, slow heat, and I am ready to roast my bones alongside the tomatoes. Janice Beaton Fine Cheese sells a delicious sun dried tomato tapenade that was the inspiration for my attempt at Mediterranean living.

1 tsp honey

360 grams sundried tomatoes in oil

1/2 tsp cayenne

1 tsp salt

8 garlic cloves

juice and rind of 1 lemon

Puree everything in a food processor until smooth enough for you.

I've used a dollop to intensify a pasta sauce, as a spread with goat cheese on crackers and some olives, and instead of mayo on a grilled cheese sandwich.

Today I made myself a snack of a smear of the tapenade on crostini with a bit of homemade ricotta on top. I made the crostini from day-old baguette, sliced thin, tossed with olive oil and coarse kosher salt and baked until crisp. Yummy....sunshine in a bite. And almost gone.

My 'to do' list

A few years ago I started writing down what has since become known as a 'Bucket List'. It included ' jump off a mountain' - paragliding off Mount Seven outside Golden, which a couple of us did on a cold Labour Day weekend - but was also full of the small adventures of life, and often cooking life. One attainable desire was that I wanted to get comfortable cooking with lamb.

I broiled lamb chops for my parents soon after, but there has been a long lull since. I'm now back on this hobby horse.

A few weeks ago, I made a spring lamb stew, with new potatoes and snow peas, with a wine based broth and the meat tender and mild. Hubby licked his plate. And it was remarkably like making a stew out of other familiar meats....hmmm. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spring_lamb_stew/

With friends coming for dinner, I roasted my first leg of lamb, slathering it in lemon, garlic, mustard and rosemary, and roasting the potatoes alongside on a bed of de-skinned lemon slices. I think that may have broken me through my lamby barrier - oh, I get it, it's a meat roast. Flavour, cook to desired doneness and eat. It was good. Even the next day.

This past weekend, it was ground lamb seekh kabobs with nuts and fresh mint, served with a yogurt sauce. Also delicious! (sorry, we ate them before I remembered to take a picture, and they looked pretty, too, sigh. I'm not very swift at remembering to use the camera.)

My next target is a boneless leg, marinated in buttermilk, herbs and garlic, and bbq'ed. P told me about not leaving the leg butterflied, but rolling it back up and grilling it slowly - he uses a rotisserie - so that the fat bastes the roast and the marinade permeates the meat by being cooked inside. That's going to be worth a photo. And a leisurely dinner with friends.

Last year was the summer of mojitos and I'm thinking maybe we need to hold that over, they'd go really well with that bbq'd lamb. The mint is already growing on the balcony...